Executive Director Program Operations, Business School

Overview

Are you interested in joining a dynamic and international team of professionals to transform education? IE University's Business School is looking for an Executive Director, Program Operations to join its team! 

The Executive Director provides strategic and operational leadership for the function supporting all IE Business School master’s and undergraduate programs, driving operational performance, service excellence, and the continuous evolution and scalability of processes.

 

The role combines operational leadership with a strong digital transformation and continuous improvement mandate, working in close collaboration with the Digital

Transformation team.

 

The Executive Director is responsible for identifying, prioritizing, and leading opportunities to redesign, simplify, digitalize, automate, and optimize operational processes, ensuring that transformation initiatives deliver measurable business impact, improve scalability, and enhance the student and faculty experience.

 

The role also leads the continuous evolution of the Program Operations operating model, ensuring that processes, capabilities, technology, and ways of working evolve in line with IE Business School’s strategic priorities and future needs.

 

Why IE University?

Every story begins with a purpose, and ours has always been about people. Founded in 1973, IE University has continuously raised the bar to drive positive change through education. We believe education is more than a path to professional success; it is a catalyst for personal transformation and meaningful impact. 

 

At IE University, we place people and their potential at the center of everything we do, empowering individuals to become extraordinary. We encourage bold thinking and foster a culture where innovation, curiosity, and courage lead to real-world impact. Together, we create an environment where talent thrives, and ideas shape the future. 

 

Our mission 

We support students in developing impact skills to live and lead with positive impact. This ignites a ripple effect: We transform people, who then transform others, systems, society, and, ultimately, our world.  

 

Our Purpose

To foster positive change.  

 

Values  

Cultivate the humanistic approach.  

Empower your entrepreneurial spirit 

Cherish the diversity of people, mind, and experience 

Drive innovation with a proactive mindset

We are looking for a person to join a full-time position in Madrid - María de Molina.

 

Responsibilities

Your role as an Executive Director will involve: 

• Lead a team responsible for delivering operational excellence across all IE Business School master’s and undergraduate programs, ensuring quality, consistency, scalability, and timely execution while maintaining a strong focus on the student and faculty experience.
• Define, implement, and oversee operational policies, processes, and service standards to support the successful and scalable delivery of academic programs.
• Lead the continuous evolution of the Program Operations operating model, ensuring that processes, capabilities, technology, and ways of working are continuously adapted to support growth, scalability, and service excellence.
• Drive continuous improvement across Program Operations by systematically reviewing processes and identifying opportunities to simplify, standardize, digitalize, automate, and optimize ways of working.
• Build and maintain a pipeline of process improvement and digital transformation opportunities, assessing and prioritizing initiatives based on business impact, operational efficiency, scalability, complexity, feasibility, risk, and implementation effort.
• Work closely with the Digital Transformation Team to evaluate and shape digital solutions, contributing deep functional and operational expertise throughout the discovery, design, implementation, and adoption phases.
• Provide business leadership for transformation initiatives, ensuring that processes are appropriately redesigned before technology is implemented and that solutions effectively address the underlying operational needs.
• Define and monitor KPIs and success metrics for process improvement initiatives, establishing baselines and measuring improvements in efficiency, productivity, turnaround times, quality, error rates, service levels, capacity released, and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Track business impact and benefits realization of digital and process improvement initiatives, ensuring that implemented solutions deliver the expected value and identifying further opportunities for optimization.
• Act as Lead IT Champion for Program Operations, translating business needs into digital solutions, coordinating with IT and Digital Transformation teams, prioritizing technology initiatives, and supporting successful implementation and adoption.
• Drive data-informed decision-making within Program Operations by leveraging operational data, dashboards, and performance indicators to identify trends, anticipate issues, and uncover further opportunities for improvement.
• Promote the adoption of new digital tools, automation, AI capabilities, and new ways of working within the operations team, ensuring effective change management and sustainable adoption.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with Academic Directors, Program Management, Admissions, the Registrar, Accreditations, Documentation, IT, and other relevant stakeholders to ensure strategic and transformation initiatives are effectively executed.
• Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement, encouraging the team to challenge existing ways of working and proactively identify opportunities to improve operational performance and stakeholder experience.

Qualifications

To thrive in this role, you should possess the following qualifications:

• Digital Transformation & Process Optimization
• Continuous Improvement & Operational Excellence
• Operating Model Design & Organizational Effectiveness
• Process Analysis & Business Case Development
• Digitalization, Automation & AI
• Data Analysis, KPI Definition & Performance Management
• Program & Project Management
• Strategic Prioritization & Transformation Portfolio Management
• Benefits Realization & Value Management
• Strategic Business Planning
• Strategic Stakeholder Engagement
• Team Leadership & Cross-functional Collaboration
• Change Management & Digital Adoption
• Strategic Communication
• Consultative Problem Solving
• Innovation Mindset

Unleash your full potential and make an impact. The next move is yours! 

 

If you want to be part of this educational revolution, we invite you to apply and be part of our dynamic team at IE University.   At IE University, we actively promote equal opportunities in recruitment processes and access to employment, always ensuring the absence of gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, ethnic origin, or disability bias throughout the entire selection process.